Study of Occupational Exposure to Latex Glove among Health Care Professionals

The paper aims to asses the prevalence of latex allergy and glove-related signs and symptoms reported by health care professionals. The lot study consisted of 140 medical, surgical, and laboratory workers in St. Spiridon Hospital of Iasi that after signing informed consent to participate in the study responded to a questionnaire contained questions about latex sensitivity. Data analysis was performed with the SPSS program for Windows, release 14.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). Participation rate was 87.5%. The mean age of the study participants was 37.5 years. There was a clear difference between the genders, females representing 72% of the investigated subjects. The most common clinical signs of latex allergy presented were itching, swelling and allergic rhinitis. Doctors presented an equal frequency of allergy symptoms such as itching and edema (18.51%,) while nurses showed more signs of allergy compared with physicians surveyed. Laboratory personnel presented the highest frequency of allergy symptoms. Laboratory personnel that wore gloves between 2-4 h/ day experienced more cases of latex allergy (80%) while physicians who wore gloves more than 4 h / day had only 50% of latex allergy cases reported. Latex allergy is an occupational pathology with increased frequency among health workers. Recognition of hypersensitivity and prompt management of reactions is paramount for the safety of dental patients and personnel.